Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.

I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.

*****

OCT171588 LOVE & ROCKETS LIBRARY JAIME GN VOL 06 ANGELS MAGPIES $19.99
This is a staggering collection of Jaime's astounding run a few years back. The award-winning Browntown/Love Bunglers pairing is here accompanied by the vastly underrated Ti-Girls work and supplemented by the cartoonist's New York Times serial and, running underneath it, that story about pottry-training age Maggie roaming her neighborhood, done in this elegant style that Jaime rarely uses. Hard to imagine a lot of collections with multiple works in them from the entire history of comics packing that much good work

OCT171805 CATBOY GN $20.00
This is a collection of material from the serial at VICE, represented in the direct market by Marc Arsenault and Wow Cool. Cute cover. It's the season to check out newer material.

AUG170036 LOBSTER JOHNSON TP VOL 05 PIRATES GHOST $19.99SEP170439 ASTRO CITY ORDINARY HEROES HC $24.99SEP170438 ASTRO CITY REFLECTIONS TP $16.99
These are two sturdy series that I'm mentioning here because there's a dearth of comic-book size comics this week, even by my relatively loose standard for such offerings. One advantage of Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson doing this stage of their career at DC is that they'll certainly do a good job keeping those trades on the stands. My hunch is that a lot of Astro City's natural audience at this point is primarily a trade buyer.

OCT170343 BUG THE ADVENTURES OF FORAGER #6 (OF 6) (RES) (MR) $3.99OCT170608 WICKED & DIVINE CHRISTMAS ANNUAL #1 CVR A MCKELVIE & WILSON $3.99OCT170609 WICKED & DIVINE CHRISTMAS ANNUAL #1 CVR B ANKA (ONE SHOT) (M) $3.99
Here's that short list of comic-book format comics that jumped out at me. I'm sure I'm missing two or three series that I cover here. That Bug comic is the Mike Allred take on the Fourth World character, and attention might perk up there at the end of the serialization. The W&D material is one of the way that popular series bridges the time between volumes of the main narrative.

SEP171618 A ZOO IN WINTER HC NEW PTG $23.00
This is Jiro Taniguchi and as this stuff seems pretty timeless to me in its appeal, I'm glad to see attention to having that work in print.

APR171907 DENNIS THE MENACE HC VOL 03 HAWAII $24.99
This is I think the best-regarded of the comic-book Dennis team's travelogues; I read the crap out of my version when I was kid. This comic was pretty ubiquitous and I think sold millions of millions of copies over several printings in that initial burst of five to ten years after its initial appearance on the stands.

AUG171662 DF DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #1 DF EXC MILLER HOMAGE $299.99
It's weird as popular as the previous DK iterations were that I don't have any sense of this volume's story, or outcome or publishing status.

SEP171572 MOOMIN AND THE BRIGANDS GN $9.95
An automatic purchase for me and others out there that know who they are.

OCT171705 PORTUGAL HC (MR) $39.99
I despaired of finding a comics for the bottom slot that wouldn't be overwhelmed by that Jaime, but a big Cyril Pedrosa book is certainly worth noting and yes, as one would expect it's glorious looking. I liked the subject matter, too, second-stage adult anxiety mixed in with later-20th Century regional European displacement. I'll write a review at some point, because it's very interesting in terms of its narrative choices as well.

*****

The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.

The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.

Go, Read: A Brief Reconsideration Of Local Arts ConnectionsThis profile of Guelph art dealer Renann Isaacs makes a big deal -- and should -- of her gallery's recurring partnership with the great cartoonist and illustrator Seth. I'm putting a spotlight on it with its own post because I think it encapsulate an underutilized strength available to comics-makers.

In the past, some local art scenes have been reluctant to include comics-makers in their efforts to spotlight what's being made around a specific city or in a particular region. That's less and less of the case now. You also have found cartoonists that have been reluctant to partner with local institutions because they want to avoid being strait-jacketed with a "local artist" reputation. In the era of social, local is international in a lot of ways, and there are changing attitudes about where good work can be found. I encourage all comics-makers settled into a community or region to make these contacts and enjoy these working relationships as part of what they do.

Submission will be accepted until the deadline March 16. The Eisners are juried at the nominations level and then opened up to working professionals and past winners. The ceremony is held the Friday evening of Comic-Con International.

* this PW preview of the Spring comics and graphic novels category has some great tidbits about a number of what look like quality works. I had not known that Michael Kupperman's book on his quiz-kid father has gained the title All The Answers. That Kupperman book is probably one of the two or three curiosity pieces next year, as his obvious smarts and skills are being put to use for what I assume is an entirely different kind of book. Although, then again, if the sex blimps show up, I'm not going to complain. It's also the first time I've seen public recognition that the cartoonist known as Ethan Rilly will collect Pope Hats' major storyline Young Frances under his real name, Hartley Lin!

* finally: Bleeding Cool notes that Fantagraphics is reprinting Cannon in the new year. The success of Wally Wood publishing projects the last quarter-century is an intriguing story: I would imagine it's one winding down as the generation most taken with Wood is slowly shuffling off this mortal coil. Nothing like a really crackling Wood comics effort, though, still.

Random Comics News Story Round-Up* Alex Hoffman on Bloom Into You Vols. 1-2. Garry Trudeau writes an article for the Times about Cullen Murphy's remembrance of the 20th Century southern Connecticut cartooning scene, Cartoon County. That's a nice get for that fine book. Rachel Cooke on Spinning.

* not comics: I know nothing about the context here, but it seems pretty self-explanatory and important enough to share. Our deepest sympathies go out to family and loved ones, as well as hope for the best possible outcome with every remaining, unresolved issue.

Comic-Con International Wins Suit Against Salt Lake Comic Con Over Comic Con Trademark
Late Friday afternoon brought news that Comic-Con International won its trademark infringement case against Salt Lake Comic Con over use of the phrase Comic Con. CCI claimed that use of the term by the Salt Lake group violated their trademark; the Salt Lake group held that the term was generic.

CCI was awarded only $20,000 -- far shy of its $12 million ask -- because the court determined the violation wasn't a "willful infringement."

I've long been of two minds about the case. I actually doubted that CCI could find legal standing for their claim because of the ubiquity and historical nature of the phrase but I have always been 100 percent certain that newer shows like the one in Salt Lake use "comic-con" or a near-derivative to indicate the exact experience created by CCI if not the actual show itself, at least way more than they use the term to mean a generic comics show of some sort.

Where this continues is if Salt Lake appeals, which might itself depend on whether or not CCI uses the decision to seek an injunction against Salt Lake and other shows that use the term. It is also unknown if Salt Lake will continue to seek formal cancellation of CCI's claim at the trademark office level.